14 DAY TRIAL // Turkey officials have made fools of themselves once again, arresting two Vice News reporters and their assistant for supposed "terrorist activities," which relates to them using an encryption system on their laptop for Internet communications.
The two reporters are British-born Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury, while their assistant, also serving the role of an Iraqi translator, is Mohammed Ismael Rasool.
All three were arrested last Thursday in Diyarbakir, a city in South-Eastern Turkey, near the Iraqi border and in a region where the Kurdish people hold the majority.
The three were charged on Monday with "engaging in terrorist activities" and were soon transported to Adana, a city 500 km / 310 miles away from Diyarbakir, where they are supposed to be on trial and where their legal representation is.
After numerous protests from media entities around the world and human rights organizations, the two British reporters were released today, but are forbidden from leaving Turkey until their trial.
Most think this is a blatant attempt at intimidating the media
There is no word on what kind of encryption software they've used, but Turkish authorities have told international reporters that the very same tools are also used by ISIL terrorists that activate in the region. Most bets are that the reporters used TOR or PGP.
Turkey is bordering Syria but always refused to engage in the conflict because of fears that ISIL militants will cross the border and help the predominantly Kurdish population in the country's South-Eastern region, raise and fight for their own independence.
Their latest arrest of the three journalists may be an attempt at discouraging other reporters from coming to the region and report on the Turkish abuses of the local Kurdish population and members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party.
If you've been following Turkey's recent political scene, censorship and intimidation are two pretty common methods of handling discontent and state critics.